I found your coverage of injuries to two people who ride bikes to be regressive.
Note I did not mention accidents, because whether it is due to the consequence of road design choices, or driver choices, injuries to people who ride bikes are seldom accidental.
In the first, a person who drives broke the law when they illegally opened their door in an unsafe manner. And yet you focused on the fact the cyclists “Helmet prevents serious injury” instead of the criminal behaviour.
Furthermore, several studies have shown mandatory helmet laws make health outcomes worse for the general population, so you are doing your readers a disservice with that focus.
In the second, you said “Cyclist hits car.” A more accurate headline would be “Driver breaks law, illegally and unsafely cuts off person on bicycle, sending them to hospital.” Hopefully a follow-up story would be “Driver charged with attempted manslaughter.”
Ruben Anderson
Victoria
